South Korean Yang Yong-eun and Spaniard Jos Maria Olazbal will lead their respective Asian and European teams at the next edition of The Royal Trophy Dec. 20-22 at Dragon Lake Golf Club in Guangzhou, China, according to the organizer.“I am committed to building a very strong team for our continent’s defense of the Royal Trophy. I will do my utmost to retain stewardship of the Trophy in Asia and look forward to the matches with great excitement and anticipation,” said Yang, the winner of the 2009

Inbee Park once felt she could walk down the streets of Seoul as the No. 1 player in women's golf without being recognized.That was two months ago.Now, she can't even make it through a toll booth.The week before she set out to make history at St. Andrews, the 25-year-old Park went home to South Korea to visit family and friends. She was surprised by the number of people who met her at the airport, and who looked her way when she was out in public dressed in regular clothes.“I was driving by the

Park In-bee will feel as if “the whole world is watching me” when the South Korean attempts next week to become the first golfer of either gender to win four majors in one season.The 25-year-old has already lifted the U.S. Women’s Open and LPGA and Kraft Nabisco Championship trophies this year and will write a fresh page in the record books if she can add the British Open title at St Andrews.Park knows all eyes will be on her when she tees it up at the home of golf on Thursday. “I’m trying to ge

SYLVANIA, Ohio (AP) ― The head-to-head duel between Beatriz Recari and Paula Creamer in the final round of the Marathon Classic on Sunday was great theater.Don’t be surprised if there’s a sequel.Recari rolled in a 12-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole to take the lead for good and hung on to hold off Creamer for her third LPGA Tour title.They started the day tied and spent most of the day trading the lead ― as if it were match play. The duel in the heat in suburban Toledo might have been foreshad

One of the greatest final rounds in a major. Two of the best shots he ever struck with a 3-wood. The third leg of the Grand Slam.Phil Mickelson never imagined any of this happening at the British Open.No wonder he never took his hand off the base of that silver claret jug as he talked about the best Sunday he ever had at a major. Five shots out of the lead, Mickelson blew past Tiger Woods, caught up to Lee Westwood and Masters champion Adam Scott, and won golf's oldest championship with the lowe

SYLVANIA, Ohio (AP) ― The Marathon Classic isn’t a match-play tournament.Except for maybe this year.Beatriz Recari birdied the two closing par 5s to catch Paula Creamer atop the leaderboard through 54 holes Saturday, setting up a head-to-head battle between players who are three shots clear of the field.Recari, a 26-year-old Spaniard who has won twice on the LPGA Tour, conceded that it’s hard not to get caught up in a two-person competition.“Definitely, it’s easier because you’re playing with th

GULLANE, Scotland (AP) ― The practice round schedule posted each day at Muirfield is not the only way to determine how players are getting ready for the British Open.Johnson Wagner’s name was on the tee sheet at St. Andrews over the weekend.Geoff Ogilvy could be found on the other side of the country, on links courses like Turnberry, Royal Troon and Western Gailes. Justin Rose was at North Berwick. So were Bubba Watson and Luke Donald, who got in plenty of golf along the Firth of Forth the week

SYLVANIA, Ohio (AP) ― Gone is the Jamie Farr name atop the marquee.Even though it’s now the Marathon Classic for the first time in its 28 years ― and the actor who played the cross-dressing Corporal Klinger from MASH has stepped into the background ― a major drawing card for some of the LPGA’s finest players remains unchanged.“When I first came here to Highland Meadows, I thought this was a tough golf course,” Park In-bee said. “But it seemed like everybody was scoring so low out here that I cou

South Korean golfer Park Hee-young claimed her second career LPGA Tour win in Canada on Sunday, defeating Angela Stanford of the United States in a sudden death playoff.Park captured the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic at Grey Silo Golf Course in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. She beat Stanford with a birdie on the third playoff hole. The two played the par-5 18th three times in the playoff. They both birdied the hole on their first two trips, but Stanford blinked first by missing the fairway off th

WATERLOO, Ontario (AP) ― Angela Stanford and Catriona Matthew shot eight-under 63s to share the first-round lead at the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic on Thursday, two strokes ahead of top-ranked Park In-bee.Park is trying to become the first golfer to win four straight LPGA Tour events since Lorena Ochoa in 2008.Park was joined by American Irene Cho, Spain’s Belen Mozo and South Korea’s Park Hee-young and Lee Mee-na at 65. American Ryann O’Toole and South Koreans Jenny Shin, Amy Yang and Oh Ji